Most people who interact with cats on a regular basis have had at least a few perplexing moments with them. Human beings look at cats as fairly inscrutable animals, but cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy would argue that a lot of that confusion comes from what he terms “looking at cats through dog colored glasses.”
Galaxy is the host of My Cat from Hell on Animal Planet and his new book Total Cat Mojo is a comprehensive guide to understanding the felines in your life.
He explains, "It’s really important to look at a cat for what they are, which is - in my view - a barely domesticated animal living in your house. And as such - and this is the tough part for a lot of people - you have to compromise with a cat in order to have a good life with them."
Galaxy's book takes the knowledge he's gleaned from his work as a cat behaviorist and puts it all in one place. He describes it as "soup to nuts," and he believes it will help demystify the many cat behaviors that bewilder owners. Galaxy admits that cats can be difficult for people to read, in part because they behave so differently from more domesticated animals, particularly dogs.
"One of the things about the sort of inscrutability that cats have always sort of had with humans is that we then project our worst traits onto them," he says. "So if a cat is sitting there staring at you and you happen to have had a bad day, you could easily go to, 'the cat hates me,' because you don't know what else you're looking for, you know?"
Galaxy will be in Milwaukee Wednesday, November 1 for an event at Turner Hall, where he will talk about the new book and - what else - cats.
